Outrage: Mother Jenny Kleeman pictured in Brazil in an episode of Unreported World

A mother was ordered to stop breastfeeding her baby son at a north London cafe by a security guard because it was “not allowed”.

The guard at the Apostrophe cafe insisted he was just following rules which stated babies could not be breastfed at tables.

However the mother, award-wininng journalist and film-maker Jenny Kleeman, refused to back down and the company and the O2 Centre in West Hampstead where the cafe is situated was forced to make a series of grovelling apologies.

Kleeman, a regular face on Channel 4’s Unreported World and Dispatches programmes, has travelled to some of the toughest parts of the world uncovering stories for documentaries and newspaper articles.

So it was no surprise she refused to be cowed when the security guard made the “bonkers” demand.

She said she was instead ordered to use “a folding chair next to the nappy bins in the baby changing cupboard” upstairs to feed her six-month-old son Benjamin as it was against the rules to breastfeed at the table.

But she refused to leave, and immediately tweeted her disgust, prompting shamefaced apologies from the cafe’s manager and the O2 Centre.

She said: “I was feeding my son, incredibly discreetly, with a friend of mine when a security guard approached me.

“I said I was fine at the table, and he said it was not allowed. When I challenged him saying it was against the law to try to prohibit me, he said it was private property and he did not make the rules.

“As soon as I told him I was a journalist however, he became very sheepish and said he was ‘just doing my job’.”

The film-maker said she was later informed the guard intervened after a fellow cafe user complained.

“I find it amazing that some people would rather listen to a screaming hungry child than a woman feeding him.

“I think the security guard did not really know who he was picking on. I know women who may not feel confident enough to stand up to something like that. I was not going to use a poo-filled box feeding ghetto.

“There is so much pressure for women to breastfeed, and then you do it and you are made to feel like you shouldn’t. It is totally bonkers.”

In an email, Deborah Jones, retail operations director for Land Securities which owns the O2 Centre, told her: “On behalf of The O2 Centre I would like to apologise personally for the situation you encountered when feeding your son.

“I want to assure you that it is not our policy to prevent breast feeding anywhere within the O2 Centre, or indeed any of our shopping centres, and the security guard who spoke to you did not act in line with our policy.

“I assure you that we will be working with all staff in all of our centres to ensure they are fully aware of our policy.”

A spokesman for Apostrophe UK apologised for the “disruption and upset” caused and said: “This was an O2 security guard and not a member of our staff or one of our policies. We would never prevent a mother from feeding her child.”